Differences in Student Performance in Online Versus Traditional Quantitative Courses

Online course enrollments have grown tremendously in recent years, but little research has examined the difference in student performance between traditional courses and their online counterparts. This research explores factors affecting student performance in online courses, compared to what they would likely have experienced in an equivalent traditional course. The results of the analysis of two sets of quantitative courses (undergraduate business statistics and operations management) indicates that grades are significantly lower (by about half a letter grade) for a student in an online course compared to a similar student in the same course taught by the same instructor with a traditional format. These results support the authors' contention that online delivery is not suitable for all courses. Student learning style, as measured by the Felder-Solomon Index of Learning Styles, was not a statistically significant factor influencing student academic performance